Supreme Court allows SEBI to sell Sahara properties

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has asked the capital markets regulator to start selling off properties owned by the Sahara group to recover dues worth over Rs 30,000 crore owed by it.

A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur, on Tuesday asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India to appoint an independent agency that could sell Rs 40,000-crore worth of Sahara properties. These properties will not include Amby Valley or Sahara’s properties outside India.

The process could get begin as early as next week. It will also cover Chairman Subrata Roy's release from jail. The top court had sent Roy to jail over two years after he failed to arrange Rs 5,000 crore in cash and Rs 5,000 crore in bank guarantees.

Though Roy has now paid the cash component, he has not been able to come up with bank guarantees. Chief Justice Thakur said only the sale of Sahara properties will now solve the problem.

Currently, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 12 per cent on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale.